Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
It’s time to give riesling another look
No other wine has been the object of such devoted campaigning, proselytizing and ardor as riesling.
What has been the result of all that fervor? Yawns, mostly.
According to Nielsen, retail sales of riesling in the United States have dropped over the last few years, though they shot upward over the first 2 months of the pandemic, outperforming sales of wine as a whole during that time.
Riesling seems to be one of those wines, like Loire reds, that do not seem to move consumers in the way wine writers assume and hope, no matter how impassioned the promise that it takes only one sip to become a convert.
Perhaps it’s confusion: Is riesling sweet? Is it dry? How can you tell?
The glory of riesling’s versatility is paradoxically both a strength and a commercial weakness. Its capacity to make complex, thrilling dry wines as well as luscious yet refreshing sweet wines is unmatched. But in a world that prefers simple messaging, riesling’s spectrum of possibilities may be confounding.
This is compounded by a general fear of sweet wines. For too long in the mid-20th century, riesling was associated with cheap, bland German sweet wines like Blue Nun and Black Tower.
People seem more accepting of dry riesling, which is the predominant style around the world, even in Germany.
Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to discern which rieslings are dry and which have some degree of sweetness. German rieslings marked “trocken” are always dry, but not all dry German rieslings carry the designation. Some might be marked “grosses gewächs,” indicating a dry wine from a top site, unless it comes from the Rheingau region, where such a wine might be marked “erstes gewächs.” If in doubt, don’t hesitate to ask.
Austrian rieslings are almost always dry. Alsatian rieslings, unless they are late-harvest bottlings, ought to be dry. For a time around the beginning of the century, some were bottled with residual sugar and without designation, which could be a rude surprise. But this issue has largely been rectified.
Australian rieslings tend to be dry unless marked otherwise.
This is also true of U.S. rieslings, most of the time. But occasionally I am surprised. If you’re in doubt, it’s worth double-checking with a retailer or sommelier.
Dry or sweet, riesling is among the most transparent of grapes, one that can be grown and produced around the world with distinctive results, assuming it has been planted in the right sort of place, ideally with a cool climate in rocky soils on a slope, the steeper the better.
I love rieslings year-round, but am particularly drawn to them in the spring and early summer, maybe because they are so good with seasonal dishes like asparagus, soft-shell crabs and wild salmon. Rieslings are light and refreshing, and German ones in particular, dry or sweet, are often delicate and low in alcohol, though I have come upon a few surprising bruisers.
In the interest of championing the beauty of riesling, here are 10 moderately priced bottles of dry riesling, roughly $20 to $45, from around the world.
Hermann J. Wiemer: Seneca Lake Riesling Dry 2018; $19.99
Hermann J. Wiemer, an immigrant from the Mosel Valley, was one of the pioneering modern winemakers in the Finger Lakes and an early proponent of riesling there. Wiemer sold the estate in 2007 to Oskar Bynke and Fred Merwarth. The Wiemer rieslings have always been more floral than mineral. Breathing in this wine is like inhaling a meadow full of flowers.
Dreissigacker: Rheinhessen Riesling Trocken 2018; $19.99
I tried my first Dreissigacker riesling last year and was won over immediately. This entry-level bottle is from vines grown on loess and loam on gentle slopes. The wine, fermented and aged in stainless steel vats, is rich, fresh and balanced, with great acidity. It’s not particularly complex, but is full of pleasing citrus and mineral flavors.
Dautel: Württemberg Riesling Trocken 2017; $21.96
Christian Dautel is part of a young vanguard that is bringing recognition to the Württemberg region in southwestern Germany.
Dautel is better known for its red wines, but this riesling is a beauty. It’s clear, pure, precise and energetic, with plenty of fruit and stony flavors.
Stein: Mosel Riesling Kabinett Trocken St. Aldegunder Himmelreich 2016; $26
Ulrich Stein’s wines are always fascinating. This one, from 75year-old ungrafted vines, is no exception. It’s brisk and dry, complex, energetic and delicious, with lingering flavors of lime and wet stones.
Bründlmayer: Kamptal Riesling Terrassen 2018; $26.99
Bründlmayer is one of the best estates in the Kamptal region of Austria, just west of Vienna. This entry-level bottle is a blend from younger vines grown at several different terraced sites. It’s easy to drink, with aromas and flavors of pressed flowers, apricot and stones.
Heinrich Spindler: Pfalz Riesling Trocken Musenhang 2017; $28.96
Many moderately priced rieslings can be extremely pleasant, but lack depth and substance.
This is not one of them. It’s rich and deep, fresh and incisive, with electric acidity. The Musenhang vineyard is a cool site high on a slope in the foothills of the Haardt Mountains of southwestern Germany.
Koerner: Clare Valley Watervale Riesling Gullyview Vineyard 2019; $29.99
Koerner is the vision of two Australian brothers, Damon and Jono Koerner, whose parents owned an old vineyard in Clare Valley, north of Adelaide. Instead of selling off the fruit as their parents had done, they used it to make wine. Now they get grapes from all over Clare and make a wide variety of wines, including this riesling. It’s fresh, with a gravelly texture and flavors that offer, as is the case with many Australian rieslings, the distinct impression of lime zest.
Emrich-Schönleber: Nahe Riesling Trocken Mineral 2017; $34.99
This wine, a midrange offer from one of the Nahe region’s leading estates, is called Mineral for a reason. The aromas are floral and herbal, but on the palate it tastes like stone and citrus, with an almost salty tinge. It’s dry and lip-smacking, pure, clear and energetic.
Keller: Rheinhessen Riesling von der Fels 2018; $37.99
Julia and Klaus Peter Keller are among the leading lights of German wine. They make G-Max, one of Germany’s most coveted rieslings and a true cult wine, along with exceptional singlevineyard rieslings. Their entrylevel rieslings are excellent, but for my money the best value is Von der Fels, a rich, pure wine with chalky minerality and great clarity and focus. It’s wonderful now, and will be even better with a few years of aging.
Weiser-Künstler: Mosel Riesling Trocken Enkircher Steffensberg 2018; $44.99
Weiser-Künstler is a small, relatively young estate established by Konstantin Weiser and Alexandra Künstler in 2005. This bottle, from the Steffensberg vineyard, has an earthy breadth yet feels transparent, as if you are smelling and tasting the vineyard itself. This, too, will benefit from a few years of aging.